Man gets life in prison for murders of two nephews of Chicago state senator

A South Side man was sentenced to life in prison Monday for the 2015 murders of two nephews of an Illinois state senator who were in Chicago to celebrate the Independence Day holiday.

Deonte Logan, 21, was convicted in December of first-degree murder in the killings of John Hunter, 25, and Willie Lee Hunter, nephews of state Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago. Cook County Judge Timothy Joyce sentenced him Monday for the murders, according to prosecutors and court records.

The brothers had moved to Missouri but had returned to visit when they were shot to death July 5, 2015, prosecutors said at the time of Logan’s initial court appearance a few weeks after the killings.

The brothers had been at a party hosted by members of the Mickey Cobra street gang, to which Willie Lee Hunter belonged, prosecutors said at the time of Logan’s arrest. His brother, John, was affiliated with the Black P Stones, according to prosecutors.

After getting there with several members of his gang, Logan, a Black P Stone and acquaintance of John Hunter, got into a dispute and fight with members of the Mickey Cobras. During the fight, Logan was beaten and stripped, but he managed to flee the scene in a car with several other people, according to prosecutors.

Soon after Logan left, the brothers and several others also left in a rental car, but Logan called one of the people who was with the brothers because he was “particularly angry’’ about the brothers not helping him or doing anything to stop the beating, according to prosecutors.

Logan got angrier with the brothers as he talked and in an attempt to calm him down, the brothers agreed to go back to where he had been attacked, look for his clothes and bring them to him, according to prosecutors.

The Hunters found one shoe and told the person who Logan had called — who also was a Black P Stone — that they were going to drive to the Bishop Street address to meet Logan to return it to him.

When they got there, Logan, who was waiting for them, prosecutors said. Logan walked up to the driver’s window of the car they were in, pointed a gun into the car and shot John Hunter, who was driving, and his brother, who was in the back seat, according to prosecutors.

John Hunter drove to the 1600 block of West 89th Street before crashing into a building. Willie Lee was pronounced dead on the scene with multiple gunshot wounds and his brother was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.

After the attack, Logan took the shoe and fled the scene with the gun. A nearby home surveillance camera took photos of Logan committing the shootings, according to prosecutors.

Logan was arrested about two weeks after the killings and charged in the brothers’ murders. A jury convicted him in December of first-degree murder in both killings, according to court records.